Mumbai: ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd, a joint venture between ICICI Bank Ltd and Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, has won the mandate to offer insurance cover of $9.1 million for Air India, run by National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, for a year starting 1 October, according to a senior executive with the insurance firm. A senior Air India executive confirmed the development. Both executives declined to be named because of the confidential nature of the development. Chartis Insurance UK Ltd is the reinsurer for the deal.

Air India had called for insurance cover for its fleet as the current cover for $8.9 bilion expires on 30 September. The new cover comes after an Air India flight crashed in Mangalore airport, killing 158 passengers and crew.

“There is a marginal increase of seven percent in the premium mainly due to higher aircraft exposure value which would be in the range of $9 billion next year," the Air India official said. He cited the Mangalore air crash and other major aircraft accidents globally for the increased cover. Air India paid $24.3 million in premium for the earlier cover.

While ICICI Lombard bid for the mandate alone, other public sector insurance firms such as New India Assurance Co. Ltd and SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd formed a consortium for the bid.

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Sun Pharma board nod for stock split

Domestic drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. on Friday announced a stock split in the ratio of 5:1 in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The Mumbai-based firm said that the board approved the proposal to sub-divide the nominal value of the equity shares of the company from the nominal face value of ₹ each to a nominal face value of Re1 each. The announcement comes on the back of Sun’s acquisition of Israeli drug maker Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. which also has a presence in the US. The acquisition will add revenue of at least ₹ ,000 crore to Sun Pharma’s topline. Shares of Sun on Friday rose 1.71% to close at ₹ ,920.55 per share on the BSE. The bellwether Sensex closed 0.93% higher at 20,045.18 points. Ranjit Kapadia, senior vice-president, Institutional research at HDFC Securities Ltd. said that this was to increase participation of retail investors. "The market sentiments are good and retail investors can benefit from the stock which will trade at around ₹ 400," he said.

Ashok Leyland Ltd has appointed. Per Gustav Nilsson as an executive director for its international operations. Before joining Ashok Leyland, Nilsson had been heading the group companies of SCANIA and MAN in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. He helped set up Scania Finance in Russia and established MAN in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Armenia.